A group of 40 UN Volunteers belonging to local communities was deployed by WFP in Iraq’s Duhok Governorate, which is located in the Kurdistan Region. In line with the Public Distribution System reform agenda, this group served alongside field enumerators to register Duhok residents. Serving tirelessly for three months, volunteers supported the registration of the newly issued PDS cards and also updated the residents' demographic information in the system - between 50 to 100 family registrations were carried out daily. Volunteers did so by using digital tablets.

The Peruvian towns of Tumbes, Piura, and Lambayeque are facing a triple crisis: climate change, a dengue fever outbreak and forced migration. It is estimated that 840,000 people need humanitarian assistance after heavy rains and are at risk of a possible "El Niño" phenomenon.

Facilitating safe returns with IOM Toema Ibrahim (Egypt, 24) is a UN Volunteer Migrant Protection Assistant with the International Office for Migration (IOM) in Cairo. In his work, he is facilitating the safe return of individuals from diverse nationalities to their countries of origin, and he has worked actively on IOM’s Sudan response assisting people to their countries of origin.

Ana Paula Machinha and Ramos Cassimo are national UN Volunteers serving with the World Food Programme (WFP) in Mozambique. They share stories from their involvement in the humanitarian response, revealing efforts to counter the cost of the humanitarian crisis in the country. Ana Paula Machinha, national UN Volunteer Field Monitoring Assistant with WFP

WFP supported the government as it mobilized to provide immediate food assistance to families in the areas hit worst by the flooding. UN Volunteers were an integral part of the WFP team.

In Kenya, UN Volunteers took part in the activities marking the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 3 December, hosted at the Technical University of Mombasa. The event included a booth display and a talent show from special needs schools. UNV highlighted volunteer programmes and potential UN Volunteer assignments that are inclusive of people with disabilities.

In Yemen, UN Volunteers serving in Sana’a marked IVD with UNV Executive Coordinator Toily Kurbanov and UNV Regional Manager for the Arab States Christian Hainzl. The event was held at the premises of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and attended by representatives of UNDP, the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).

In Lebanon and Gaza, high unemployment, soaring costs of living and limited social assistance at the national level have forced millions into poverty. Lebanese people, in particular, suffered financial and humanitarian setbacks following the explosion at the Port of Beirut in 2020.  With the Lebanese pound incurring a loss of more than 90 per cent of its value to the economic challenges that continue to limit any growth — the conflict in Ukraine adds more difficulties — the biggest of them all, a decrease in food imports.

At 25 years of age, I was a teacher in Australia, yearning to experience something new. Out of the blue, I was offered an opportunity to teach at a missionary school in central Liberia. I remember going to a nearby library to check where Liberia was in the atlas!

It is estimated that more than 1.32 of 6 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants are in Peru (